501 
B6 

py 1 



Frice, 25 Cents. 



HO^W^ 



TO 



Preserve Eggs 




) A COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIOUS METHODS 
) OF KEEPING EGGS FOR CULINARY PURPOSES. 



By H. H. STODDARD, 

EDITOR OF "the POULTRY WORLD," -'THE AMERICAN POULTRY YARD " AND " THE 

CO-OPERATIVE POULTRY POST." AUTHOR OF ''AN EGG FARM," "POULTRY DISEASES." 

"poultry ARCHITECTURE," "LIGHT BRAHMAS," "WHITE LEGHORNS," 

" BROWN LEGHORNS," "PLYMOUTH ROCKS," " WYANDOTTES," 

"domestic WATER FOWL," " INCUBATION; NATURAL AND 

ARTIFICIAL," " HOW TO RAISE POULTRY ON A 

LARGE SCALE," " HOW TO FEED FOWLS," 

" HOW TO WIN POULTRY PRIZES," 



HA RTFO RD 

1885. 



CON N. 



HO^W 



TO 



Preserve Eggs 



By H. H. STODDARD, 

EDITOR OF ''the poultry WORLD," '' THE AMERICAN" POULTRY YARD " AND "tHE 

CO-OPERATIYE POULTRY POST." AUTHOR OF " AN EGG FARM," " POULTRY 

-.KCHITECTURE," " LIGHT BKAHMAS," '' WHITE LEGHORNS," " BROWN 

LEGHORNS," " PLYMOUTH ROCKS," " INCUBATION; NATURAL 

AND ARTIFICIAL," " HOW TO RAISE POULTRY OX A 

LARGE SCALE," " HOW TO FEED FOWLS, 

" HOW TO WIN POULTRY PRIZES," 

" WVANDOTTES," " WATER 

•■ FOWLS," ETC. 




HARTFORD, CONN. 

1885. 
Copyright, 1885, by H. H. Stoddard, Hartford, Conn. 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 



EGGS. 

'T^HE egg contains all the principles essential to the 
growth of the body, though not every chemical sub- 
stance that the stomach will take and use for the devel- 
opment of bodily organs. It does not contain a large 
portion of starch. Milk is the food provided by nature 
for the young, and affords all the elements necessary in 
building up and sustaining the body during the stage for 
which it is provided. So the egg contains enough of 
nitrogenous substance, oil or fatty elements, water, lime, 
etc., to make the frame, the flesh, and all the tiny organs 
of the chicken, covering all with a downy garment that 
answers for the time, in part, as a protection. 

The shell of an egg is not air tight. The pores of the 
shell admit air sufficient, during the period of incubation, 
to produce those changes necessary for the development 
of the chicken. This is a necessity of the case ; but 
when we come to the preservation of eggs for culinary 
purposes these pores in the shell, admitting the atmosphere, 
are what bring about a putrid condition, and cause what 
was very superior as an article of food to be entirely 
useless — a total loss. 



4 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

It seems that eggs are not designed by nature, or pro- 
duced for food, but for reproduction. They keep better 
than the manna of the wilderness ; yet, if we watch the 
l^rocess, we see that when the fowl has completed her 
"laying" she immediately commences sitting, and therefore 
there is no need, in the course of nature, for the eggs to 
keep in prime condition for more than two or three 
weeks. 

Man, by selection of the most fruitful specimens for 
breeding, by affording protection and food, also by stimu- 
lating, has produced a habit in the domestic fowl of 
producing more eggs annually than are necessary for incu- 
bation. The eggs are taken away from the nest day by 
day, and the hen keeps on laying and cackling till she 
has produced more than three fowls of her size can cover 
with extended wings. She needs but a dozen ; cunning 
man takes the balance for his breakfast table. 

Spring and early summer are the seasons — a period 
of about five months — when our domestic fowls produce 
abundance of eggs, even more than required for sitting 
and to fill the current demand. There is a surplus. 
Eggs are cheap. If pressed upon the market fast as 
produced, the price gets reduced down to a ruinously low 
figure, and the poultryman gets discouraged ; hence an 
inquiry comes every year from every part of the country, 
''What is the best method of preserving eggs?" *' Is 
there a possibility of keeping eggs perfectly fresh from 
the time of plenty to the time of scarcity?" 

The desire to answer our many correspondents, giving 
them all that has been discovered and all that is worth 
knowing on the subject, has prompted to the commence- 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 5 

ment of another book in our series on poultry and 
subjects pertaining thereto. And now let us inquire dili- 
gently how to keep eggs. We find that there has been 
no lack of experiment in this matter. One writer asserts 
that air enters when an egg has been long kept, and 
brings about its putrefaction, and that giving a coating of 
some impervious material to the shell, or filling up the 
pores with oily substance, the egg will keep for an almost 
indefinite period. This is true in part, but there are 
other important conditions that should not be left out of 
consideration. 

A lot of eggs kept in a high temperature, or in a 
temperature that varies from high to low, as in our 
American climate, will in a short time depreciate in quality 
and in a few weeks be worthless for culinary purposes, 
be they sealed ever so carefully. The position of eggs 
for keeping is also important. Eggs lying on their sides 
will soonest decay. It is important that the membrane 
wliich surrounds the yolk keeping it in its globular shape 
be kept intact. The breaking of this membrane causes 
tlie. mixture of the yolk with the albuminous matter sur- 
rounding it. When an egg lies on its side for many days 
the yolk settles to the lower side, the membrane which 
surrounds it coming in contact with the lining of the 
shell. This hastens the giving way of the membrane. 
The yolk should be surrounded with the white as evenly 
as possible ; thus it will be kept in a globular shape, and 
there will be no uneven strain on the membrane. Who 
has not noticed in cutting a hard-boiled egg the yolk at 
one side and the air space pressed nearly opposite? The 
egg laid unchanged too long on one side, and was boiled 



6 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

none too soon ; for before long it would have been a 
"bad egg," and that is the very opposite of the article 
commonly denominated a ** fresh egg." 

Eggs ought to make an important part of the diet of 
the young, the delicate, and the dyspeptic. The laborer 
also finds out that there is something in eggs that sus- 
tains him in his toil. If boiled hard they are handy to 
carry, only need a little salt for their preparation, and 
are never estimated much short of meat in nutritive 
qualities. Ah, yes ! a fresh egg is better than salt meat ; 
and a fresh egg is one lately laid, and so it will be to 
the end of the world. There is a difference in the 
quality of fresh eggs as there is in milk. This may be 
accounted for by the breed, or by the food with which 
the fowls have been supplied. Some eggs appear to con- 
tain more water than others, and less of oily matter in 
the yolk ; also, some have a richer flavor than others. 
When fowls have enjoyed a recess of weeks in winter, 
receiving good feed, all the tissues of the body get filled 
up, and the first dozen or score laid have all the richness 
that comes of good material. Especially is this the case 
when fowls have the liberty of the farm, and get not 
only good food, but a variety. 

As the special object of the writer is to give the best 
methods of preserving eggs for food, and to relate the 
experience of numerous persons who have made experi- 
ments with this object in view, it is only just and right 
that we start out with a true knowledge of the structure 
of eggs, and the material of which they are composed. 
The preservation of beef and pork to an indefinite time 
is effected by a low temperature. Eggs may be so pre- 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 7 

served for a long time, care being taken not to freeze ; 
also, to seal perfectly to prevent evaporation and the 
ingress of air. But it is by the use of salt that meats 
are commonly preserved. We all know how much of 
good quality and flavor is lost by this process. The 
palatable juices of the meat go out as the salt goes in. 
Eggs may be preserved with salt, but the hardening and 
depreciation of quality is much the same. If we study 
the nature of an egg we are inclined to the opinion that 
it is not made to be kept like wine. 

Eggs have been aptly called ''hen fruit." The ovary 
of a fowl presents what appears like a cluster of fruit 
not yet mature. The process of fecundation is wonderful, 
but that is not necessary to the production of an egg. 
An apple falls not from the tree without a previous con- 
tact of pollen with the stigma, in a blossom ; but our 
" hen fruit " falls into the nest, it may be, without impreg- 
nation, a perfect egg to all appearance, just as good for 
food, just as good to keep, as though it contained within 
its shell the possibility of a chicken. 

The ovary of the hen is where the germs cluster, and 
here is the beginning of every egg-centre. In a laying 
hen the yolks are found in every stage of development. 
This growth or secretion comes from the blood by means 
of the ovary. The yolks are each enveloped by a sac 
that holds them in form till perfected, and ready to break 
away from the ovary. About the time of fecundation 
this sac becomes thinner and weaker, especially about the 
largest circumference of the yolk, and finally breaks 
asunder. The germ and yolk, enveloped in a membrane 
exceedingly delicate, now enter another organ- called the 



8 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

oviduct. This is a flexible passage, nearly two feet long 
in some fowls. During the laying period this organ 
receives a liberal supply of blood. The organ is extended 
and active, the amount and quality of its secretions being 
truly wonderful. As the yolk enters the upper end of 
the passage, preserving its rotundity, it begins to receive 
an envelope of albuminous substance — the white — a secre- 
tion from the oviduct, apparently not constant but period- 
ical, as it is formed in layers. These layers appear 
distinctly in the white of a boiled egg, and may in some 
cases be separated. The imperfect egg moves along 
downward, probably stopping at intervals, receiving when 
at the middle, or about the middle, of the passage, a 
secretion that forms a covering or skin, in two layers. 
This includes the yolk and white, and a bubble of highly 
oxygenated air, which is found at the large end, not in 
immediate contact with the egg, but between the two 
layers of skin. Thus is formed a bag containing all the 
elements necessary to form the body of a chick. Only 
one thing more is necessary to carry out the plan — a 
shell. In the lower part of the oviduct the imperfect 
egg receives its hard outer covering of calcareous sub- 
stance, rendering it fit and handy to be carried or kept. 
This is the mechanism of nature. Does it not appear 
like a contrivance? And who runs the machine? The 
hen takes no thought of this ; not as much as of the 
worm that wriggles in her crop. These formations of 
germs, and all that belongs to the egg, from the germ to 
the downy chicks, — ^'how wonderful ! There are some little 
points that the best philosopher skips over, because forsooth, 
darkness cnvr-rs tliem, ?.vA th-^v are past fir.dinfr out. 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 9 

And now we have the egg. Man has dominion ; he 
gives what he chooses to the sitting hen, or to the in- 
cubator, and takes the balance of good eggs for the table. 
One of the most important arts among mankind is the 
art of preserving food so that the surplus that exists at 
one time, or in one country, may be saved and utilized. 
We can hardly realize the amount of suffering that is 
prevented by this. With modern inventions, and methods 
of transportation, famine is avoided. 

We have just been considering the ways by which 
eggs are produced, and the substance entering their for- 
mation. Eggs are highly nitrogenous. There is a flavor 
to the fresh article that may not be described, but is a 
luxury ; missed" when you have the egg without the fla- 
vor. Sometimes we hear people saying that this recipe, 
or that method, will preserve eggs so that they v/ill be 
just as good at the end of six months or a year as 
when newly laid. This is in the region of extravagance. 
Flesh and fish are depreciated by any methods of preser- 
vation. The same is the case with fruits, if we except 
quinces and two or three other kinds. 

In the methods of keeping eggs which we present in 
these pages, we shall endeavor to accumulate all of ex- 
periment and discovery that has been brought to light 
up to the present time. The reader will, of course, dis- 
criminate. Some of these methods are best only for the 
household, others for the person who would pack large 
numbers to be sent to distant markets. 

There is abundant evidence that eggs may be kept 
many months in such good state of preservation as. to 
make valuable food, and a knowledofe of the methods of 



lO HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

doing this is worth something to the man who nas eggs 
to keep. 

SALT, LIME, ETC. 

At the Birmingham Poultry Show, England, prizes 
were offered for the best eggs that had been kept two 
months. The eggs were tested by breaking one of each 
lot into a clean saucer ; also by boiling one of each lot. 
The eggs that had been preserved in lime water, it was 
found on breaking them, presented cloudy whites. Eggs 
preserved by rubbing over with beeswax and oil showed 
thin, watery whites. 

Eggs that stood best the test of boiling and which 
gained the first prize had been simply packed in common 
salt. These had lost little, if any, by evaporation, had 
good, consistent albumen, and were pleasant to the taste. 
The exhibit which took the second prize was served as 
follows : Melt one part of white wax to two parts sperm- 
aceti, boil and mix thoroughly ; or two parts clarified 
suet to one of wax and two of spermaceti. Take new- 
laid eggs, rub with antiseptic salt or fine rice starch. 
Wrap each egg in fine tissue paper, putting the broad 
end downward ; screw the paper tightly at the top, 
leaving an inch to hold it by. Dip each egg rapidly 
into the fat heated to loo degrees. Withdraw and leave 
to cool. Pack broad end downward in dry, white sand 
or saw-dust. The judges were inclined to believe that 
had the trial been for a longer period than two months, 
this latter method would perhaps have proven the better 
of the two. The eggs were excellent, and on stripping 
off .the waxed paper the shells presented the clean, fresh 
appearance of newly-laid eggs. 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. II 

A correspondent of the English Live Stock Journal 
gives the following recipe : "To every gallon of water, 
add a breakfast cupful of quick-lime, and a breakfast 
cupful of salt. Put the lime in a flat-bottomed oval 
earthenware pan with enough of the water to slake it ; 
when cold, add the rest of the water and the salt, and 
mix well. Put the eggs in the day they are laid. I 
rarely have a broken egg, if the eggs are sound when 
put in. I think the salt prevents the lime spoiling the 
shells much, up to six months ; a longer time is apt to 
make thin shells." 

The American Agriculturist gives the following : " Eggs 
may be kept from late summer or autumn well into the 
winter, or even spring, but it is next to impossible to 
deceive the dealers, and very few customers are deceived 
by them. ' Limed eggs ' have their regular market quo- 
tations throughout the winter, and usually sell at one- 
quarter to one-sixth less than fresh ones. They are 
limed by packing them into barrels or smaller casks, 
point down, and pouring on them the water from lime 
slacked with brine, to a thin milky consistency, using 
just enough to cover the eggs, so that the next layer 
can be conveniently placed upon these and then more 
lime water added. When the cask is full, the eggs must 
be covered with a cloth and this spread over thickly 
with the pasty lime, and then if the water evaporates, 
or if the pasty lime cakes and cracks, more water must 
be added. It is essential that the eggs should be per- 
fectly fresh, clean and sweet when packed, or the whole 
lot will go wrong. There is, probably, no better way of 
keeping eggs for market than this. For family use they 



12 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

may be greased, dipped in hot paraffine wax, scalded, 
and perhaps preserved in other ways. The lime and 
salt liquid imparts no flavor, and does not deface the 
egg, which, when offered for sale, has a slight chalky ap- 
pearance, foreign to and distinguishes it from a fresh-laid 
egg." 

'And here follows the experience of two English writers: 
in keeping eggs for family use: 

''I slake ,the lime in an old iron boiler, making' it 
about the consistency of treacle. I let it stand thus for 
fourteen days, with water an inch deep on the top. 
Then take an earthen pan, put some of the lime in it, 
three inches deep, and put the eggs in the same day as 
laid, and push them under the lime Always keep a lit- 
tle water on the top of the lime. This will keep it 
soft, and exclude the air. In this way I have kept eggs 
for thirteen months for trial, but we always keep them 
from four to seven months, and never find any bad ones. 
I have laid down about 500 this season, and do so every 
season. I only keep Dark Brahmas at present, but have 
during the last forty-six years tried nearly every breed." 

"In the month of September I bought an ordinary 
basket of eggs, about 150, at id. each, I put them, the 
large end downwards, in* a large upright earthenware jar, 
with sufficient dried salt between each egg to prevent 
contact, and filled the jar quite full with salt, covered 
with bladder, putting them away in a very dry place. In 
the following month of March those that were left were 
perfectly good and sweet, weighing on an average eight 
to the I lb." 

A ^Massachusetts corres':>ondent of the JVesfcr/i Rural 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 13 

gives his experience on this subject, as follows: ''I am 
anxious one and all should know the secret of keeping 
eggs a year or more in as perfect a state as when laid, 
with this exception, that when they are beaten up they 
are more brittle than new-laid eggs, I am giving you a 
recipe that has been in use by men who have brought 
eggs to the Boston market from the State of Maine for 
the last thirty years, and who have tested the same with 
more than a million dozen of eggs, in the time mention- 
ed, and know of what they speak. It is as follows : 
Take five quarts of rock salt, five pounds of unslaked 
lime and a quarter of a pound of cream of tartar ; 
dissolve in four pails of water, which makes sufficient 
pickle for a barrel of eggs. Eggs are always to be 
kept under the pickle. I have used the same for 
preserving our eggs for family use for the last twenty 
years, and am giving conclusion from experience. To 
which we would add, however, that although this may 
preserve eggs in good condition, it will not save those 
eggs that have been left in the nest for twenty-four hours, 
and have been kept warm during that time by hens sit- 
ting on them." 

To the above should be added that all the eggs, be- 
sides being perfectly fresh, should be perfectly sound. Un- 
slaked lime injures the shells. 

For the benefit of those who wish to preserve eggs 
on a large scale, we insert the method that has been in- 
dorsed by the American National Btitter^ Cheese and 
Egg Association : " One bushel of lime, eight quarts of 
salt, and 250 quarts of water. Slake the lime with a 
portion of the water, then add the balance of the water 



14 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

and the salt. Stir well three or four times at intervals, 
and let it stand until well settled and cold. Either dip 
or draw off the clear pickle into the cask or vat in 
which it is intended to preserve the eggs. When the 
cask or vat is filled to a depth of eighteen inches begin 
to put in the eggs, and when they lie about one foot 
deep, spread over them some pickle that is a little milky 
in appearance, made so by stirring up some of the very 
light lime particles that settled last, and continue doing 
this as each foot of eggs is added. The object of this 
is to have the fine lime particles drawn into the pores of 
the shells, as they will be by a kind of inductive pro- 
cess and thereby completely seal the eggs. Care should 
be taken not to get too much of the lime in ; that is, 
not enough to settle and stick to the shells of the eggs 
and render them difficult to clean when taken out. I 
believe that the chief cause of the thin, watery whites in 
limed eggs is that they are not properly sealed in the 
manner described. Of course, another cause is the put- 
ting into the pickle old, stale eggs, that have thin, watery 
whites. When the eggs are within about four inches of 
the end of the cask or vat, cover them with factory cloth 
and spread on two or three inches of the lime that set- 
tles in making the pickle ; and it is of the utmost im- 
portance that the pickle be kept continually up over this 
lime. A thin basin, holding about six to eight dozen 
eggs, punched quite full of inch holes, edge muffled with 
leather, and a suitable handle about three feet long at- 
tached, will be found convenient for putting the eggs in- 
to the pickle. Fill the basin with eggs, put both under 
the pickle and turn the eggs out ; they will go to the 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 15 

bottom without breaking. Vats buiit in a cellar around 
the walls, with about half their depth below the surface, 
and four or five feet deep, six feet long and four feet 
wide, are usually considered the best for preserving eggs 
in, although many use and prefer large tubs made of 
wood. The place in which the vats are built or the 
tubs set should be clean and sweet, free from all bad 
odors, and where a steady, low temperature can be ob- 
tained. The lower the better ; that is, down to any 
point above freezing." 

To lime a few eggs for home use, Fanny Field gives 
a recipe : One pint of salt, one pint of lime and four 
gallons of boiling water. When cold put into stone jars, 
or anything that will not absorb the liquid, then with a 
dish let the eggs down into it so that they will roll out 
without cracking the shell ; for if the shell is cracked 
the egg will spoil. Keep covered in a good place. And 
here, to avoid repetition, I will say, that no matter what 
method you use, the eggs should always be kept cover- 
ed and in a dry place where a " steady, low temperature 
can be maintained" — the lower the better, provided it 
does not reach the freezing point. Eggs will not keep 
well in a damp, musty cellar, or in a room where the 
mercury waltzes up and down all the way from 40 de- 
grees above zero to 90-in-the-shade. And the eggs must 
be fresh to begin with. I had the best success with 
eggs that were packed every day as soon as gathered 
from the nests. 

The same writer discourses, in a general way, on this 
subject, as follows : During the past ten years I have 
collected over twenty different recipes from various 



l6 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

sources, tested all of them, and found that any method 
which prevented the evaporation from and the penetration 
of air into the egg would keep them " good " from three 
to twelve months — provided they were stored in a cool, 
dry place — but I have never yet found any way to keep 
them "fresh" for any length of time, or any method 
whereby they could be kept good enough to be sold as 
fresh eggs. I have eaten at Christmas-time eggs that 
were packed the previous July, and although they had no 
disagreeable taste or smell, they certainly had not the 
taste of new-laid eggs ; but still they were better than 
none, and I doubled my money on a lot of eggs so pack- 
ed. I did not attetiipt to palm them off as "strictly 
fresh" eggs, or anything of the kind. I sent them as 
first-class preserved eggs, and obtained the highest market 
price for preserved eggs, but that happened to be twelve 
cents a dozen less than the price of new-laid eggs. At 
the same time a neighbor sent to the same commission 
house a lot of eggs packed according to a recipe that 
he paid a "poultry sharp" $2 for; they were sent as 
" strictly fresh new-laid " eggs, and as he had been ship- 
ping to the same house for a year, and his goods were 
always as represented, his mark was well known and the 
eggs were not examined as they would have been had 
they arrived from a stranger. He obtained the price of 
new-laid eggs and "crowed" over "yours truly" after 
the most approved masculine style of doing such things. 
In a few days after he received the money there came 
another letter from the firm, and it read about as fol- 
lows : "On the strength of your mark we sold your con- 
signment of eggs to some of our best customers ; of 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 1 7 

course they soon discovered that the eggs were not as 
represented, and they were returned to us. We have 
since sold them for what they are — good preserved eggs 
— and we pocketed the loss on the lot, but we respect- 
fully decline any further dealings with you." I after- 
wards found that the eggs were packed exactly as I pack- 
ed ours — except that he paid $2 for the recipe that I 
picked up in a newspaper. He did not mean to be 
dishonest ; his fault was in swallowing the story of the 
" sharp," who assured him that eggs so packed could not 
be told from new-laid. And right here let me say that 
nine-tenths of the egg-preserving recipes that different 
parties offer to send on receipt of $1 or ^2, or offer as 
a premium for something or other, have been published 
time ar d again in half the news and poultry papers in 
the country. Some of the fellows who are anxious to 
get a living some " easy " way — no matter how dishonest 
it may be, so that it does not bring them within reach 
of the law — get hold of these recipes, alter the wording 
a little, and in some cases add another harmless and use- 
less ingredient to the pickle, and then advertise. There 
is no need for any one who desires to preserve eggs, 
either for home use or for market, to buy any recipe. 

The following method has been patented in England : 
" Put into a tub one bushel (Winchester measure) of 
quick-lime (which is fresh-slaked lime), salt 32 oz., cream 
of tartar 8 oz. Use as much water as will give that 
consistency to the composition as will cause an egg to 
swim with its top just above the liquid. Then put and 
keep the eggs therein, which will preserve them perfectly 
sound at least two vears." 



15 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

A Western correspondent writes : When it is desired 
to keep eggs only two or three months, it may be done 
by using salt alone, taking the precaution to keep the 
package in a cool place. This is probably as good a 
method as any to adopt when only a few hens are kept, 
and it is desirable to retain the overplus of eggs laid in 
the summer for family use in winter Take a keg or 
small jar and cover the bottom with fine salt about two 
inches thick ; then pack in fresh eggs with small ends 
downwards, and far enough apart so as not to come in 
contact, and to afford room for salt all around them. 
Next put in salt again, filling about an inch above the 
layer of eggs ; then another layer of eggs as before, and 
so on till the receptacle is full. Then cover tightly. 

An article written by Mr. Stephen Beale for The 
Country Gentleman contains much on this subject that is 
interesting. Alluding to Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier, who was 
judge of preserved eggs at the laie Dairy Show in Eng- 
land, he writes: 

" For the purpose of this examination he had been 
permitted to take away two eggs out of each lot. These 
he tested thoroughly, and I give a summary of his re- 
marks thereon for the benefit of your readers. I ex- 
plained last week that the eggs had been kept from the 
8th of last July to the 8th of October, and as it was at 
least three days after the latter date beTore Mr. Teget- 
meier could possibly make the examination, the period 
during which they had been kept was more than three 
months. And it is to be remembered that these were 
the three worst months of the year, namely, July, August 
and September, and that this year we have had a season 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. I9 

of the most intense heat, such as we have not experi- 
enced here for many seasons. Therefore, this experiment 
was sufficiently trying to satisfy the most exacting, es- 
pecially as the eggs were kept in the offices of the Dairy 
Farmers' Association, and under no such favorable condi- 
tions as would be the case in the cellars or store closet 
of a farm-house. 

''The lots of eggs entered for this competition were 
thirty-one in number, and in each lot there were two 
dozen eggs. Seven were packed in common salt, which 
in some cases had previously been thoroughly dried. 
Respecting these, Mr. Tegetmeier says : ' The eggs when 
broken were alike in quality ; the salt had absorbed a 
rather large portion of the waters of the albumen, or 
white, consequently there was a considerable air cavity at 
the larger end, the presence of which was evident by the 
sound produced when the eggs were shaken. The white 
was thickened by the loss of water, but otherwise very 
little changed, and the eggs were perfectly good for 
pastry or cooking purposes, being superior to the common 
shop eggs obtained in London during the winter season, 
being free from any objectionable odor or taste.' 

" It is evident that these eggs would not be suitable 
for sale, however good in cooking, for the shaking of the 
contents would be fatal to them in the former respect. 
One of the lots of eggs packed in salt had been first 
wrapped in thin paper, but there was no difference in 
the result. In addition to the seven packed in salt alone, 
there were three others with which salt was the actual 
preservative. One of these was packed in sand and 
salt, another in a mixture of slaked lime and salt, and 



20 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

a third had been first coated with a solution of gum. 
arabic, and then packed in salt. But the result was the 
same in all these cases, as when the plain salt had been 
used. 

"One lot of eggs was preserved by the u e of gum 
alone. The plan followed was described by the exhibit- 
or : ' Eggs dipped into a strong saturated solution of 
pure gum arabic : operation twice repeated. Eggs thor- 
oughly dried, then wrapped in paper and packed in bran ; 
egcs three davs old.' This is a somewhat troublesome 
system, but the result showed them to be well preserved, 
and the white was more natural in appearance than the 
previous lots, consequent upon the gum having prevented 
any evaporation. 

"Three lots of eggs had been coated with melted 
wax or paraffine, but it is remarkable that these were all- 
decided failures. When the wax was removed, the 
shells were found to be more or less discolored, and on 
opening, the insides were mildewed, and . the contents 
spoiled. This is all the more surprising, as the lot 
which won second prize at Birmingham last December 
was preserved in the same way, and by the same ex- 
hibitor as one of these. The system then answered 
very well indeed, but this time has been a failure. One 
other lot of eggs had been wrapped in oiled paper, and 
then dipped in boiling resin, but they were unfit for 
use. 

" Four more had been coated with fat or oil, and 
one of these obtained a second prize. This lot had 
been painted over with melted beef and mutton drip- 
ping, and then wiped with a cloth. Another had been 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 2 1 

rubbed well with butter ; yet another ' painted with salad 
oil and packed in sand,' and a fourth also painted with 
sala'd oil, but wrapped in paper and packed in flour. 
Other three lots had been first buttered or oiled, and 
then packed in salt. All these seven collections had 
been preserved satisfactorily for cooking purposes, but as 
no evaporation had taken place, the white was character- 
ized by more tenuity than in those where the pores had 
not been actually closed. One of those preserved by oil 
and salt was awarded a second prize. 

'* Three lots only were preserved in liquids. One 
was m pure lime-water ; another in lime-water, with a 
very small quantity of salt ; and the third in the follow- 
ing : 'T\enty quarts of water, one ounce of saltpetre, 
one pound of salt, six tablespoonfuls of quicklime ; boil 
the water and saltpetre and salt twenty minutes, and 
pour that hot upon the quicklime ; the next day put 
in the eggs, and keep the pot covered in a cool place.' 
These lots were well preserved, and very good indeed 
for cooking. There had been little or no evaporation, 
and yet the white was less watery than in those pre- 
served with fat or oil. When wiped dry they had just 
the appearance of shop eggs. The lime-water process is 
that used so largely abroad, and it would almost appear 
as if it was the best system. One lot was kept in an 
ego- cabinet, standing small end downwards on perforated 
shelves. These were fairly preserved. The other lots do 
not require any special mention. 

"Thus it will be seen, that many of the systems 
used are good for the preservation of eggs, even through 
a hot, oppressive summer, but only for cooking purposes. 



2 2 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

Of course, there are thousands and millions of persons 
who would be quite content to eat of these eggs. But 
they do not realize what a fresh egg is, and its su- 
periority to one even a week old. I had hoped that 
this experiment would have indicated some system by 
which eggs could be preserved so as to be fit for table 
purposes, but this is not so. It does show, however, 
that there are three or four ways in which they can be 
kept, even under the most unfavorable conditions, and be 
first rate for the kitchen." 

A correspondent of the Farmers Review writes : 
"I have found little or no trouble in keeping eggs so 
fresh that when used they are as good as the day they 
were taken from the nest. The whole secret lies just 
here, viz.: when they are collected in the evenings, they 
should be placed in an upright position, the small end 
downward, on shelves with holes made on purpose to re- 
ceive them, because in this position (and a very im- 
portant one to success) the yolk does not come in con- 
tact with the shell, the yolk, as it were, being suspend- 
ed in the center of albumen ; if otherwise placed, that 
is, on their sides, the yolk would then come in contact 
with the shell, and naturally spoil, every egg being 
porous. The common mode of keeping eggs amongst 
farmers is either to pack them in straw, saw-dust, chaff, 
oats or bran, none of which ways will keep the eggs 
fresh for any length of time ; as they will perspire, you 
must find some method that will entirely close the pores 
of the egg and keep them closed. My plan was simple 
and not at all expensive. I melted together tallow and 
mutton fat, then took -sing feathers of the fowl and 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 2J 

greased every egg, being careful to replace them in the 
same position as at first, and kept them in a dry and 
dark place. By this method you can at any time sell 
to the grocer or private family fresh eggs, as they do 
not lose their flavor or weight." 

The Farmers' Advocate^ London, Ontario, offered a 
prize for the best method of keeping eggs over winter. 
The receipt given below took the prize : 

" Whatever excludes the air prevents the decay of the 
egg. What I have found to be the most successful 
method of doing so is to place a small quantity of salt 
butter in the palm of the left hand and turn the egg 
round in it, so that every pore of the shell is closed ; 
then dry a sufficient quantity of bran in an oven (be 
sure you have the bran well dried or it will rust). 
Then pack them with the small ends down, a layer of 
bran and another of eggs until your box is full ; then 
place in a cool, dry place. If done when new laid 
they will retain the sweet milk and curd of a new laid 
egg for at least eight or ten months. Any oil will do, 
but salt butter never becomes rancid, and a very small 
quantity of butter will do a very large quantity of eggs. 
To insure freshness, I rub them when gathered in from 
the nest ; then pack when there is a sufficient quantity." 

WAX-, TALLOW, OIL, ETC. 

Much scientific attention has been devoted in France 
to the preservation of eggs. The leading principle of all 
processes is the protection of the interior of the egg 
from the action of the atmosphere, and, consequently, it 
has long been settled that only the freshest eggs are 



24 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

eligible for preservation. To the solution of the prob- 
lem (says T/u' Grocer) of how to prevent the air from 
penetrating the shell of the egg, the experiments of such 
eminent savants as Musschenbroek, Reaumur, and Nollet 
have valuably contributed. They all agree that the most 
practicable method is to envelope the new-laid egg in a 
light coating of some impermeable substance, such as 
wax, tallow, oil, or a mixture of wax and olive oil, or 
of olive oil and tallow. Reaumur suggests an alcoholic 
solution of resin, or a thick solution of gelatine. Nollet 
experimented successfully with india-rubber, collodion, and 
various kinds of boot varnish. In practice, the most 
successful method has been that of Cornier of Mans. 
This consists in covering the egg with a varnish, the 
composition of which is kept a secret. Eggs are pack- 
ed on end in sawdust, and it is said will preserve their 
freshness during quite nine months in any climate. 
Cadet de Vaux suggested the plunging of eggs for 
twenty seconds in boiling water in order to coagulate 
that portion of the albumen nearest the shell, and then 
to pack them in vessels half filled with sifted cinders. 
This process — which, by-the-bye, has been well known in 
some parts of Scotland for many years — 'yields excellent 
results, but if neglected for but a second or two, the 
eggs are liable to harden. The process known as " lim- 
ing " in England, and as the Cadfet-Gassicourt process 
in France, is very popular ; on the other side of the 
Channel, however, " limed " eggs are never eaten a la 
coqite, but only in the shape of omelettes, etc. Some 
preservers claim to obtain better results, as far as the 
taste of the egg is concerned, by substituting ordinary 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 25 

salt for lime. The solution, it is said, penetrates the 
shell, and so acts upon the organic matter as to diminish 
its susceptibility to decomposition. The eggs are im- 
mersed during several hours. Appert, the Columbus of 
food preservers, gave some attention to the subject of 
egg-preservation. His favorite process was to introduce 
the eggs into a bottle half-filled with bread crumbs to 
prevent breakages. After carefully corking the bottle, 
he placed it for several minutes in a sand bath, the 
temperature of which he kept at 70 deg. For home 
consumption the French peasantry have for ages preserved 
their eggs in a very simple fashion. They take a wooden 
case, or a large barrel, and pack them in thick layers 
of saw-dust, fine sand, chalk, bran, cinders, or coal-dust, 
S0 that they do not touch each other. In the maritime 
provinces the peasants use layers of ashes moistened 
with salt water. Both these processes are successful. 
Drying eggs and reducing them to powder (an invention 
patented by Chambard in 1852) is another method of 
preservation that is profitably pursued in France. 

A correspondent of the Country Gentleman says : " My 
plan is to take fresh eggs when they are plenty and 
cheap, and coat them with lard or any other clean 
(urease. I prefer lard. I put a lump in a saucer or 
anything convenient to melt (not boil); then with a 
small rag grease eaxh egg." 

The Farmers World gives the following, from a 
correspondent : '* Last summer I was induced to try pack- 
ing down eggs for winter use. I took some sweet, clean 
kegs, set them in a cool, dry place, with a barrel of 
powdered dy earth near at hand. In the kegs I placed 



26 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

a layer of this earth, then a layer of eggs, small end 
down ; then a layer of earth, and so on until the kegs 
were filled. These eggs were quite good six months 
after packing down. By placing the eggs small end 
down the yolk is prevented from dropping down on the 
end and settling on the shell, while the dry, fine earth 
keeps them from the air." 

GLYCERINE AND SALICYLIC ACID, 

The following method of preserving eggs has been 
practiced to some extent in England : 

"Take 5 pints of water, together with i^ pints of 
pure alcohol, add to it 3}^ ozs. of pure glycerine, and 
stir in with it as much salicylic acid as the mixture 
will absorb. When it will take no more the salicylic 
acid will show as a sediment at the bottom. Take your 
eggs, which must be quite new-laid, put them quite clean 
into the liquid, leave them in it for an hour, and let 
them dry in a basket. The liquid must not come into 
contact with any metal, only china, or glass, or wood. 
It should not come much into contact with the skin. 
The first time I tried it I treated it quite as if it were 
water, and a few days afterwards all the skin peeled off 
my hands. The quantity given will do for many thou- 
sand eggs. The moment the eggs have been taken out 
pour the liquid into a bottle and stopper up well. The 
eggs will remain good for a very long time. It is the 
salicylic acid that serves as a disinfectant. Alcohol is 
used with it, as it is able to absorb a deal of this acid 
in a liquid state, whilst water will only absorb very little. 

" Supposing the eg^s were put into this mixture with- 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 27 

out the glycerine, when drying the eggs the alcohol 
would soon evaporate, leaving the acid in crystalized dry 
form on the surface, which would not be sufficient. 

" Glycerine has the power of attracting dampness from 
the atmosphere ; it is used for this reason to keep the 
acid from crystalizing on the surface, and by keeping it 
liquid and the pores of the egg filled, the egg does not 
show any outside sign of the treatment. If well done it 
will keep eggs for months and months, only care should 
be taken that none crack. 

J. M. Reynuaan, Manager. 

Sf. Leonard's Poultry and Fruit Farm, Ringwood^ Hants. 

" P. S. — At this time of the year, a very simple way 
is to butter the eggs, and put them, thick end down, 
upright in bran, and they will remain good till Christ- 
mas." 

PACKING IN BARLEY MEAL AND BRAN. 

H. Boothby gives a very simple method of preserving 
eggs, which may answer the purpose very well, put in 
practice by those persons who only wish to keep a few 
to the time of scarcity, for family use. It is as follows : 

"First obtain some wooden boxes about eight inches 
square, with lids, then mix barley meal and bran in 
equal proportions. Put a layer of this barley meal and 
bran in the box to the depth of an inch, then place the 
eggs in, end downwards. Put another layer of barley 
meal and bran, then more eggs (making about twenty- 
five), and fill up with barley meal and bran. Place a 
label with the date on the lid, and put the box thus 
filled in a dry, cool cupboard or other place. Reverse 



28 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

the eggs about once a week, and they will be tound in 
four or five months' time nearly as fresh as newly-laid. 

" The way I manage with my eggs is this : I keep 
ten Brahmas, and nearly all their eggs laid after July I 
pack away as described above for winter use. I turn 
them over once a week, perhaps more if I have time, 
and the supply of eggs will last me till my birds come 
on to lay again at Christmas. Thus by this simple 
process I have a fresh egg for breakfast all the year 
round." 

Another man writes : " I pack in a box or in a keg 
in wheat bran or chaff, small end down. Anything like 
chaff or cut straw will answer. I prefer bran. I have 
kept eggs twelve months as good as when put away, and 
have no doubt they can be kept any length of time." 

And still another writes : " Put the eggs into a large 
pail and pour boiling hot water over them, then put a 
cover over them and count sixty very slowly. Take 
them out, wipe dry with a thin towel, and pack with 
little end down in buckwheat-hulls, oats, or bran. Put 
in a place where neither frost nor damp can touch 
them, and they will keep for months. The boiling water 
shuts up the pores of the egg-shells, and keeps them 
fresh, while it does not cook them. Another way is to 
rub each egg over with linseed oil, put on with a cloth. 
Lay them on a table to dry and' then pack away 
tightly. Lime-water and salt will also keep eggs, but 
they are not so well kept as by these other methods, 
as they absorb the salt, and the white loses its fresh- 
ness and will not beat to a froth or give lightness to 
cake." 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 29 

ASHES. 

A "Country Rector" gives his method of keeping 
eggs successfully for a few months. We find it in The 
Live Stock Journal : 

" Some time ago I found in the Journal a very sim- 
ple plan of storing eggs in dry ashes, and ever since I 
have adopted that system with very satisfactory results. 
Though rather fastidious about eggs, I have frequently 
eaten and enjoyed eggs that had been in the ash-box 
for more than four months. But this week I have test- 
ed the system still more severely. A box of ashes, 
that had been used for storing eggs, was laid aside as 
empty until two days ago, when a solitary egg was 
found in it that had been laid on May 5 th, 1882. 
Though more than a year old, the egg was perfectly 
good, and formed part of an excellent pudding the same 
evening. The only necessary precautions seem to be 
these : to see that the ashes are quite dry, and to see 
that the eggs do not touch one another." 

SALICYLIC ACID, 

Late German papers contain accounts of an experi- 
ment made by Schuster on the preservation of eggs, by 
a process depending on the well-known antiseptic prop- 
erty of salicylic acid, the growth and multiplication of 
the living organisms which cause fermentation and decay 
being prevented by the presence of this acid. Fresh 
eggs that had been packed in cut straw, after having 
soaked for an hour in a solution made by dissolving 50 
grammes (nearly two ounces) of salicylic acid in a little 
vinegar, and diluting with a litre (about a quart) of 



'30 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

water, were found unchanged, both as to weight and 
taste, at the end of four months ; while similar eggs not 
soaked in the salicylic acid solution, but otherwise treat- 
ed precisely like the first lot, were spoiled. The method 
is both simple and reasonable, and well merits the at- 
tention of those interested in preserving eggs. 

A writer from CasselVs Magazine calls attention to the 
following process for preserving eggs ; it has been proved 
a perfect success by many and careful experiments. On. 
removing the eggs from the nest, they are coated with 
butter in which two or three per cent, of salicylic acid 
has been dissolved, and then they are placed, individ- 
ually, in a box filled with fine and absolutely dry saw- 
dust. Care must be taken that the eggs do not touch 
each other, and that they are completely enveloped in 
saw-dust ; and should these precautions be strictly ob- 
served, they will keep fresh for several months, possibly 
for more than a year. 

A simple method recommended by the Scientific Amer- 
ican consists in the immersion of the eggs in a solution 
of salicylic acid, prepared as follows : " Dissolve salicylic 
acid (which costs about ^3 per pound) at the rate of a 
teaspoonful to a gallon of boiling water. It is not 
necessary to boil all the water ; a larger amount of the 
acid can be dissolved in a gallon of water, and then 
added to the cold water, but the whole mixture should 
be at the rate of a teaspoonful of acid to a gallon. 
This solution must in no case come in contact with 
any metal. The eggs are kept immersed in the liquid.'* 

SULPHUR. 

The Farmers' Revieiv gives directions for what is 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 



31 



known as the sulphur process. " Place the eggs in a 
tight keg, box or barrel, the size according to the 
quantity of eggs, which should in no case fill it more 
than two-thirds. On the top of the eggs lay a board 
and on this place an iron or earthen vessel, in which to 
burn sulphur. A pound of sulphur is sufficient for a 
barrel filled two-thirds with eggs. Set the sulphur on 
fire and cover tightly to confine the fumes and let it 
stand for an hour. The sulphur fumes being heavier 
than the air, will sink to the bottom and envelope every 
egg in the lot. In another box, keg, or barrel place 
about an equal quantity of oats, or rather more, and 
treat in the same way. Then pack the eggs in the 
oats, fill the receptacle full and head or nail up, and 
turn upside down every day to prevent the yolks from 
adhering to the shells, and it is claimed that they will 
keep perfectly sweet and good for a year." 

POSITION FOR PACKING. 

There is a diversity of opinion on this subject, as on 
many others. One person has practiced packing his 
eggs small ends down, and has been successful ; while 
another has packed the large ends down, and has been 
equally successful in keeping the eggs for months. All 
agree that it is better that the eggs should not lie in 
the natural position — unless they are turned very fre- 
quently. We may learn the truth in this matter by 
careful experiments better than any other way. Mrs. 
Freeman writes in {English) Live Stock Journal: 

Since I have kept fowls, I have always been most 
careful to keep my eggs as Mr. Lewis Wright advises, 



^2 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

viz.", the big end downwards ; and I maintain that that 
position makes a most material difference in the quaHty 
of the egg. Last year I wanted to give this method a 
fair test. I repeatedly set eggs which I had preserved 
for three weeks in the above mentioned position, and 
they hatched all right. I have also given three-weeks- 
old eggs — always kept in the same way — to people most 
particular about their "fresh-laid eggs," and I must ac- 
knowledge the gourmands have been "taken in," and 
paid me all sorts of compliments about my exquisite 
eggs. 

If Mr. Voitellier had given it a few minutes' reflec- 
tion, he must have himself come to the conclusion that 
there is a great difference between keeping eggs stand- 
ing on the big ends, or left to lie in the natural posi- 
tion. When the egg is put on the big end, the whole 
weight is on its air-chamber, and that is consequently 
prevented from expanding too freely, and of course the 
egg, instead of getting stale, is kept fresher much long- 
er. If the egg is kept laid flat the air-chamber can 
spread with great facility, having no weight to prevent it 
from doing so. 

However, as facts are generally better proofs than 
words, I beg to say that yesterday I stored three eggs, 
which will be kept standing, and three more which will 
remain in the "natural position" which Mr. Voitellier 
advocates. After three weeks I shall take the liberty of 
sending them to your office, trusting somebody will have 
the kindness to try them, so as to be able to give his 
opinion as to which method of storing eggs ought to 
have the preference above the other. 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. ^;^ 

And now the result : 

It will be remembered that in our issue of March 
9th, Mrs. Freeman, of Farnborough, criticising a letter of 
M. Voitellier's, respecting the preservation of eggs, stated 
that she had stored half-a-dozen eggs, three of which 
were to be kept standing broad end downwards, the plan 
advocated by Mr. Lewis Wright and others, and which 
she herself had found the best, and the other three on 
their sides, as advocated by M. Voitellier. These eggs, 
together with three new-laid ones, were received by us on 
Wednesday afternoon, and we gave one of each lot to 
different members of our staff, to be tested by those 
who were unacquainted with the meaning of the num- 
bers upon them, and who consequently could not be 
prejudiced in any way. 

Mrs. Freeman sent with them the following particu- 
lars, the envelope containing which was not to be open- 
ed until after the eggs had been tested. 

I. Have been kept standing on big end since February 
28th (28 days). 

II. Fresh laid yesterday, March 27th. 

III. Been kept laid flat since February 28th (28 days). 
We may add to this that the three marked I. were 

yellow in the shell, and appeared to be from Brahmas, 
and the others were" white, apparently Minorca, or from 
a similar breed. 

The reports are as follows : 
No. I. 

I. Good average egg, nice in flavor, and fairly fresh, 
but the white adhered to the side. 

II. Similar to I., but not quite so good in flavor. 



34 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

III. The best of all, milky, good flavor, no smell, and 
very fresh in appearance. 

This bears out the testimony of M. Voitellier, so far 
as the mere preservation of the egg is concerned, but 
as it is quite possible that III. was naturally richer in 
flavor than II., that would be sufficient to account for 
the quality being better. 

^ No. 2. 

I. Deep yellow yolk — white pure, and taste good. 

II. Yolk not so deep-colored, very fresh, and best of 
the lot in taste, flavor, and appearance. 

III. Strong in taste and smell. 

Here the new-laid egg was picked out, but the one 
kept standing on the broad end was found to be nearly 
as good, whilst that lying on its side was strong both in 
taste and smell. This, of course, supports Mrs. Free- 
man in her contention that the former is the better 
method. 

No. 3. 

I. Very fresh indeed, rich in flavor, and without 
smell. 

II. Equally as fresh, but not so rich in flavor. Be- 
tween these two there was no difference, except that the 
former was a little richer in quality. 

III. Rather stale, not bad, but like an ordinary box 

egg. 

In this also is Mrs. Freeman's opinion supported, as 
is the statement made by that lady — namely, that she 
has " given three-weeks-old eggs to people most particular 
about their * fresh-laid eggs,' and I must acknowledge 
the gourmands have been ' taken in,' and paid me all 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 35 

sorts of compliments about my exquisite eggs." There- 
fore, as we must be democratic enough to allow the ma- 
jority to decide, the vote is in favor of keeping eggs 
with the broad end downwards. 

Mr. L. Wright's testimony has weight, and we insert it 
as follows : 

" For storing eggs, a very good plan is to have a 
large board pierced with holes, in regular rows. Many 
breeders keep them in bran ; and this latter method is 
perhaps best for those meant only to be eaten ; but for 
setting hens the pierced board has many obvious con- 
viences. They should always be kept with the large 
end downward. This direction being exactly contrary 
to that usually given, we should state that our attention 
was first called specially to the subject by a most intelli- 
gent lady, who advocated this plan, alleging as the prob- 
able reason of its superiority : ' Keeping eggs on the 
small end appears to me to cause the air-bubble to 
spread, detaching it from the shell, or, rather, from its 
membranous lining ; and after being so kept for a fort- 
night the air-bubble will be found to be much spread, 
and the egg to have lost much vitality, though still very 
good for eating.' She then described her success the 
other way, adding: 'Owing to this method of storing, 
such a thing as a stale egg has never been known in 
my house, and as regards success in hatching, for sev- 
eral seasons, when I was able to attend to my poultry 
myself, of many broods set, every egg produced a chick." 
We were by no means hasty in adopting or recommend- 
ing this plan ; but, after careful observation and com- 
parison -for two seasons, have proved indisputably that, 



;^6 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

both for • eating or setting, eggs do keep much better 
the large end down. There is after a week a marked 
difference in eggs kept in the two positions as regards 
the spreading of the air-bubble, which is well known to 
affect both the freshness for eating and vitality for set- 
ting of stored eggs, and after three weeks the dift'erence 
can be discerned even by the taste alone. It will, of 
course, matter little which mode is adopted, provided the 
eggs are used for either purpose within a short time ; 
but the longer kept the more the difference from the 
two positions increases, and, while eggs stored with the 
small end down cannot be depended upon after a fort- 
night to produce more than a proportion of chickens, 
those kept in the way we now advocate will keep per- 
fectly good for hatching a month or even more." 

But here comes a correspondent of the Lancaster 
Far?ner with a different story : 

" It is sometimes desirable to store away eggs in the 
summer or fall, when prices are so low that we cannot 
afford to sell them, and keep them till in the winter, 
when they are often very scarce, and will be keenly 
relished, or can be disposed of at a good price. To 
keep them thus we do not believe there is a more sim- 
ple and efficient way than the one we have always 
practiced, and which was successfully practiced by my 
father for the last thirty or forty years. This is by 
simply taking none but perfectly fresh and sound eggs 
and setting them in layers on the tip or small end, in 
a box or basket or anything that will hold eggs. We 
do not put anything between them, nor do we put them 
up ' air-tight,' but we always keep them in the cellar. 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 37 

Eggs that we have put away in this position last fall, 
are to-day — after six months — as good and as fresh as 
the day they were laid, and we have never found one 
that was spoiled or stale among them, when thus served. 
We feel confident that they would keep good and fresh 
for one year. I wish some of your readers would try 
this method and see how long they can keep them, and 
then report the results." 

A Wisconsin housekeeper has preserved eggs fresh 
from fall to spring by the following recipe : " Take a 
piece of tough, pliable paper, five or six inches square. 
Wrap it cornerwise around the egg, and twist the paper 
protruding at each end of the egg firmly in place. Let 
the paper be large enough to cover the egg entirely, 
pack in tub or box, small end down, and keep in a 
cool place." This secret of keeping eggs seems to con- 
sist in excluding the air from them, and in standing 
them on the little end down, so that the yolk cannot 
adhere to the shell. Of course eggs should be packed 
when perfectly fresh, for a change begun cannot be ar- 
rested. 

Another method for keeping eggs on a small scale, 
practiced by some people, seems to be a compromise: 

" Wrap each egg carefully in paper and place in a 
bag. Have the bag of strong muslin, and puckered up 
at one end and tied tightly, with the string left in a 
fixed loop, so that it can be hung by it. Tie the other 
end of the bag up close to the eggs, so that they can 
not move at all, and leave the end of this stringy in a 
loop also. Each day reverse the hanging up of the 
bag, and at the end of six months the eggs will come 



28 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

out as fresh as can be. The eggs may be put in a few 
at a time, as they are gathered fresh." 

PACKING FOR TRANSPORTATION. 

''The great egg season is from March to July. They 
come usually packed in straw, a layer of uncut straw at 
the bottom of the barrel, and then an inch of cut straw, 
and then layers of eggs and straw alternately to the top, 
which has, like the bottom, uncut straw. The whole is 
pressed down with powerful leverage, and on goes the 
head. Barrels of eggs are whirled on the chime, and 
not rolled like a barrel of flour. The straw for pack- 
ing is kiln dried and machine cut. Eggs at this sea- 
son are all good ; later, when hens go into the out-of- 
the-way places to lay, the eggs are not found for some 
time, and they do not keep so well, and for the same 
cause they are better the earlier layings. A merchant 
receiving a shipment of eggs, say fifty barrels, has per- 
haps ten of them " candled," that is, an expert passes 
them, three in each hand, before a candle. This is 
done with great rapidity. Reclamation is made for dam- 
aged or bad eggs, but generally they pass along from 
dealer to dealer, the loss of the bad eggs falling on the 
purchaser. There are various ways of preserving eggs. 
The one most in use is storing them in immense vats 
in a solution of lime and salt." — Am. Dairyman. 

" It is no uncommon occurrence in cities to see a 
grocer unpacking eggs, many of which have been broken, 
thus disfiguring many others. This is a matter to which 
those who are about sending eggs long distances to mar- 
ket should 2;ive the closest attention. Never use chaff. 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 39 

Oats are good, but rather costly. Fine cut hay or 
straw are the best and most available materials, and 
should always be sweet and dry. Put three inches of 
this at the bottom of the package, then a layer of eggs, 
with the end toward the side of the package, but not 
touching the side by an inch or more ; then put on 
several inches of packing, pressing down gently with a 
follower ; remove all but an inch in depth of the pack- 
ing and put in another layer of eggs in the same way 
as the first, taking care that the packing is pressed be- 
.tween the ends of the eggs and the sides of the pack- 
age, and so continue until the last layer is in, which 
should be covered with at least two inches of packing 
and an inch of hay, and the cover of the package 
pressed down closely. Eggs packed in this way can be 
transported long distances without injury." — N. V. Herald. 

Poultry and eggs are transported in great quantities, 
long distances, every season. New York city receives 
thousands of car-loads of live and dressed poultry yearly ; 
and one writer estimates the number of eggs going to 
the same destination at 25,500,000 dozens. These eggs 
are in great proportion gathered from the farms not near 
large towns, at the West. The methods of gathering, 
handling, packing, transporting, etc., are important, and 
it is no wonder that so many are inquiring to find out 
the best methods. We quote from a published lecture 
on this subject, delivered by S. C. Gable, as follows : 

"Eggs should be gathered at least once a week, and 
during the warmer months as often as facilities will per- 
mit, and should never under any circumstances be left 
standing around, exposed to the heat or flies. All egg 



40 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

shippers, whether large or small, should carefully candie 
their eggs, especially during the warm weather, and if 
any seconds, such as dirty or stained eggs, they should 
be left out and packed separately from those which are 
to comprise extras or first quality. When eggs are care- 
fully candled, and all fresh eggs packed and shipped at 
once, the loss is comparatively light. But it is not 
profitable to ship stale eggs, as they will be xotton be- 
fore reaching their destination; neither is there any ben- 
efit in paying freight on rotten eggs, and such are the 
ones that cause losses, and sometimes make a great deal 
of ill-feeling between the shipper and receiver. From my 
own experience, when a shipper in former years, I always 
found it the most profitable to ship eggs as long as 
they could be marketed to good advantage, and during 
the warm months I could not ship too often. My ad- 
vice is to ship eggs when fresh, and as often as possi- 
ble. As there are a great many shippers who hold the 
eggs, which are gathered during the latter part of Sep- 
tember and the month of October, I would advise them 
to use only the best and cleanest oats, which should at 
least be a year old. Rye is the most cooling, but not 
being raised on a large scale, and more expensive, I 
find old oats the next best thing. Before packing up 
the eggs the oats should be run through a fan, so as 
to be entirely free from dust or any such dirt usually 
found in them. These eggs, after being held in oats, 
before they are put on the market in the late fall, 
should be again candled and repacked in prime cut 
straw or wheat chaff, for then they will present a bet- 
ter appearance, and are more salable. While the eggs 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 4I 



;.re neld in the oats there are always some that will get 
rjtten, and if shipped to market in the oats there is 
generally suspicion, and the cry of ' ice house stock ' is 
raised, even if they are not such. 

" Guinea eggs, or keats, as they are termed in the 
Western States, should especially be packed in separate 
packages, for if packed in with hen eggs the buyer will 
insist on having them at the same proportion as crack- 
ed eggs, OT half of the price of sound hen eggs. When 
we receive guinea eggs that are separately packed, we 
have always a trade to take them at about two-thirds of 
the price of fresh hen eggs. Guinea eggs, when mixed 
with the hen eggs, are very often the cause of a great 
deal of trouble between the buyer and the seller, and I 
think if the egg-shippers of the West would combine 
themselves, and make up a 'shooting match,' and use 
nothing but guinea hens for the occasion, and destroy 
them all, it would eventually make the egg business a 
little more profitable to themselves. 

" In regard to packages for shipping eggs, we, in 
Philadelphia, like New York, prefer barrels, but from 
what I can learn Boston, Chicago, and other markets 
prefer cases. We prefer the barrels for various good 
reasons, but principally because they are more adapted 
for sending eggs to out-of-town trade, such as watering 
places, and our coal and iron-mining districts, where we 
could not possibly send cases, unless we were to keep 
several thousand on hand just for that purpose; and to 
empty and re-case the shippers' eggs would be an enor- 
mous amount of labor and valuable tmie lost, especially 
in the spring of the year. For packing, we prefer 



42 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

clean, fine-cut rye straw, although wheat straw will also 
answer. Barrels should be uniform in size and style, 
and new barrels always add to the appearance of a 
shipment, even if it is only a small lot. The eggs 
should be packed uniform, the same number of dozens 
in each barrel. A great many Ohio shippers use a 30- 
inch barrel for packing eighty dozen, and when properly 
packed these carry very well, but far Western shippers 
should not pack over seventy-five dozen to the same 
size barrel, or, better still, use a 28-inch barrel, and 
only i^ack seventy dozen. In regard to packing the 
eggs, we can hardly say much, for we find the promi- 
nent Western shippers have very good experience in 
packing. I must say that some have one great fault ; 
that is, in heading up their barrels they are pressed too 
hard, and invariably there are a few mashed eggs in the 
first and second layers ; this presents a very bad ap- 
f)earance to the buyer, and very often some good sales 
are missed, and even the reputation of the brand is hurt 
to a certain extent. 

" I have found the pickling vat and the ice-house 
the only successful means of preserving eggs, but I -must 
give the latter mode the preference. The ice-house 
steady temperature of ;^6 deg. to 40 deg., although eggs 
will keep in a temperature of 40 deg. to 44 deg. AH 
eggs for cold storage should be perfectly fresh and thor- 
oughly culled." 

EGGS COMPARED WITH MEAT. 

The food value of eggs and the cost of egg food 
has not been proj)erl3- considered. In fact, the public 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 



43 



in general put a low estimate on the nutritive value of 
eggs, and have a mistaken view of their cost. The 
Scientific Farmer meets these mistaken views when it 
says : A dozen of average sized eggs may be assumed 
to weigh a pound and a half. If we calculate the food 
value of meat and eggs, as force producers — that is, the 
amount of work they oxidized in the body are theoret- 
ically capable of producing — we have 990 foot tons for 
the pound of lean meat; and 1284 foot tons for the 
pound of eggs. As flesh producers a pound of eggs is 
about equal to a pound of meat, as the following 
analyses show : 

ONE POUND OF EGGS. 

Ounces. Grains. 

Water 12 36 

Albumen 2 

Extractive 130 

Oil or fat i 2 14 

Ash ■ ... 28 

will produce, in the maximum, two ounces of muscle 
or flesh. 

ONE POUND OF MEAT. 

Ounces. Grains. 

Water S 

Fibrine and albumen i 221 

Gelatine i 62 

Fat 4 340 

Mineral 35° 

AGE AND QUALITY. 

Do not accept any unnecessary risk. Simple means 
are at hand in every household to distinguish bad eggs. 
There may be good eggs, doubtful eggs, and bad eggs, 



44 HOW TO PRESERVE -EGGS. 

all in the same basket. Place those that are at all doubt- 
ful in a vessel of water, deep enough to allow the eggs 
to float — if they will. Those foul and musty with age will 
stand on end, the small end, too, as persistently as if held 
there by a magnet ; but good ones lie quietly at the 
bottom of the dish, and thus the good and bad can be 
more readily separated than in most circumstances in life. 
Of course no really honest person will sell eggs, the 
freshness of which is in the least doubtful, when he can 
so easily practice this simple method of assuring himself 
of their integrity. 

It is very annoying to the good housewife to break 
an egg of bad odor into her cake or custard ; and 
when hurried, one is apt to forget the usual rule, which 
is, always to break each egg into a cup by itself, so 
that the good ones may not suffer, like Dog Tray, by 
being found in bad company. Still worse is it when 
bad boiled eggs, supposed to be fresh, find their way to 
the breakfast table, and to the egg-cup of the fastidious 
visitor. 

Under this head we add a few sayings from the Rural 
Gentleman : 

A good egg will sink in water. 

A boiled egg which is done will dry quickly on the 
shell when taken from the kettle. 

The boiled eggs which adhere to the shell are fresh- 
laid. 

After an egg has laid a day or more the shell comes 
off easily when boiled. 

A fresh egg has a lime-like surface to its shell. 

Stale eggs are glassy and smooth of shell. 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 45 

Eggs which have been packed in lime look stained, 
and show the action of the lime on the surface. 

Eggs packed in bran for a long time sm.ell and taste 
musty. 

With the aid of the hands, a piece of paper rolled 
in funnel shape and held toward the light, the human 
eye can look through an egg, shell and all. 

If the egg is clear and golden in appearance wher 
held to the light, it is good ; if dark or spotted, it is bad. 

The badness of an egg can sometimes be told by 
shaking near the holder's ear, but the test is a dangerous 
one. 

Many devices have been tested to keep eggs fresh, 
but the less time an egg is kept, the better for the egg 
and the one that eats it. 

PICKLES AND PRESERVES. 

Wisdom is found in proverbs. They resemble sharp- 
shooters, who are apt to hit the mark. There is some- 
thing more to be said about '' egg pickles " and those 
" valuable recipes " which are advertised all over the 
country. The man who buys a recipe for preserving 
eggs, merely on the recommendation of the vender, with- 
out proving its efficacy, would be classed by the leading 
author of proverbs a fool. There is no secret pertaining 
to the preservation of eggs, that is worth buying. The 
best methods have been published in the agricultural 
papers and the poultry publications so that they are the 
property of every man who desires to use them. Yet 
there are always some new fish that never felt a hook, 
and they bite when a bait is presented. We just found 



46 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

m editorial advertisement in this line which we insert in 
^)art, as it is a specimen brick. In this case the inventor 
sells a " pickle " instead of a recipe for making a pickle, 
and in this he is cunning. Names are omitted : 

" We have heard of a great many ways to preserve 
eggs for future use, but have never come across any- 
thing equal to the process used by Mr. P. He sent me 
in October,, some eggs preserved by his process in April 
last, and we have examined them carefully, and must 
confess they were the best preserved eggs we ever saw. 
They looked as well as new-laid eggs, and we defy any 
one to detect that they had ever been in pickle. On 
breaking them into a saucer they kept their shape, were 
perfectly sweet and not the least smell of age about 
them. They cooked like fresh eggs, and in taste and 
looks we could not discover but what they had just 
been laid. Mr. P. is very enthusiastic over his new 
process for preserving eggs, and well he may be, for it 
is something that has long been sought for, and now, it 
being a settled fact that eggs can be preserved for an 
indefinite period, it will add hundreds of thousands of 
dollars to the wealth of the nation. But farmers are 
the ones who are going to reap the greatest benefit from 
it. Instead of selling their eggs at from six to fifteen 
cents a dozen they can pack them and hold until a 
favorable market calls for them. 

" Mr. P. is considered a straight and square man 
among his neighbors, and they are willing to endorse 
him. He does not sell this receipt, but does sell this 
pickle in a concentrated form so that in ordering it 
from him it requires only a small quantity to produce a 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 47 

barrel of the pickle in which you can preserve some 
seventy or eighty dozen of eggs. This process has been 
in use by Mr. P. for several years until he has brought 
it to that state of perfection that it seems impossible to 
improve upon it." 

That may be a very good pickle : it may be as 
good as any other. It may be sold from house to 
house like yeast ; and if the seller should own some 
good layers of fair eggs and should take some, fresh 
from the nest, as samples, would not the article sell 
among honest farmers like " hot cakes" ? It would be 
^rong to decry a valuable invention, but there has been 
much false pretense in this matter of preserving eggs. 
Let no man pay for the privilege of making his own 
lightning-rod ; for we read that Franklin made the in- 
vention long ago, and it is free. 



A FRENCH METHOD. 

During the seige of Paris, when that city was so 
hemmed in by the German army that the country poul- 
terers could not get their eggs to market, neither could 
the Parisian go out except by the agency of a balloon ; 
it became a matter of great importance to preserve the 
fresh eggs that were already in the city, especially those 
necessary for hospital use. Of course this was done 
with the best art and science that was available in the 
French capital. 

The method, as described by a French newspaper, 
was as follows : Pack the eggs in carbonized bran. 
First put in a layer of this material one inch thick, 
then place the eggs, ends down, with space between 



48 HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 

them sufficient to prevent coming in contact with one 
another, then another layer of bran one inch in thick- 
ness, then eggs again in the same manner. 

Eggs preserved in this way were kept fresh, and used 
in the hospital for the sick and wounded; and, though 
several other methods of keeping eggs were used, none 
were as satisfactory as this. We can perceive no reason 
why bran prepared in this way would be at all superior 
in preserving effects to powdered charcoal. Carbon has 
a quality that preserves meats, and we read that poultry 
was preserved in the same manner as eggs in the French 
hospitals. Ordinarily it would be easier to obtain ground 
charcoal than carbonized bran, but the latter would not 
blacken the materials packed in it as much as the fine 
dust of charcoal. 



LIBRRRY OF CONGRESS 



002 857 241 4 



